Collisa (Outsider Book 1), page 16
Dare cursed and sprinted towards the obvious cries for help, ducking between trees and vaulting undergrowth with all the speed his reflexes could give him. Even so he nearly slammed his face on a few branches as he reached for an arrow and fit it to the bowstring.
Given his panic at the urgency of the situation and the fact that he was running at breakneck speeds, he should've fumbled and dropped the arrow. But his abilities must've come into play, because while inside he was freaking out his movements were calm and quick.
In a small clearing ahead he saw a large black cat, a jaguar or panther, holding a tiny green woman in its mouth by the shoulder and savagely worrying her. The woman was curled up on herself trying to prevent her neck from breaking, choked voice gurgling with fear and pain.
She'd gotten lucky that the cat was toying with her, but if Dare didn't act soon she'd be dead.
At the same time, it was dangerous to just run in. He'd never seen a panther in these woods before, so he quickly pulled up his Adventurer's Eye.
Then he cursed. “Panther, level 12. Animal. Attacks: Pounce, Bite, Claw, Pin, Savage.”
Since it was 4 levels above him its threat color was Pink, but that was a bit deceptive since it was only one level away from being Red. Dare knew from careful study and painful experience that for enemies, every level above his own meant a significant jump in power.
It wasn't just the power that came with being that higher level, either. He'd also noticed that the few higher level enemies he'd faced gained a modifier for being higher level than him, so his attacks did less damage and their attacks on him did more.
And with every level that modifier grew.
It made sense in a way, to keep lower level adventurers from getting a decent level tank and then mobbing down much higher level Silver Sickle monsters in a horde. But it meant that whoever had created the system on this world very much didn't want adventurers fighting significantly higher level enemies.
More importantly right now, it meant that if Dare tried to help that tiny green-skinned woman, he was probably going to die. He very much doubted he had the gear a Level 8 should, so he was even weaker than his level suggested.
But he had to try. He doubted he'd be able to live with the guilt if he didn't.
He raised his bow and drew the fletchings back to his cheek, surprised to find his arms were still steady. Maybe he wouldn't have to fight the panther, he could just distract it and use Fleetfoot to lead it away so the green woman could escape. Then somehow find a way to shake the big cat and come back to help her.
It didn't seem likely, but it might be a better option than trying to fight it.
Please don't let this kill me, he thought in his usual mantra as he took aim and loosed.
His arrow buried in the panther's neck, and it flung its tiny victim away with a yowl of pain and whirled towards him. Dare already had another arrow nocked and was preparing to draw, but before he could the cat blurred towards him.
Pounce, he thought grimly, cursing his carelessness. Like other Charge abilities it would allow the enemy to more swiftly close the distance with a target. Only this ability let the big cat move much faster, almost like a teleport.
Even with Fleetfoot he barely had time to drop his bow and leap aside before the panther landed where he'd been. The predator seemed slightly surprised to find him not there, buying him a split second to act.
Considering his options, Dare drew his main hand Utility Knife and offhand stone knife and darted in. He couldn't run from the Pounce ability, and he no longer had his bow and wouldn't have time to shoot an arrow anyway. Which just left trying to stab a higher level panther to death with comparatively low damage weapons.
He was so fucked.
Dare dove into a roll past the cat as it whirled towards him, barely twisting aside from a flashing paw. He landed behind it and had just enough time to slash at the back of one of its legs before leaping backwards to escape another lighting quick swipe.
Without Fleetfoot he'd already be in trouble.
Text scrolled across the edge of his vision. “Melee ability unlocked: Hamstring.” Which was all fine and dandy if he'd bothered to put any points into his melee attacks, but he'd focused mostly optimizing damage with his bow and beefing up his defensive abilities.
He might have to change that if enemies kept closing on him before he could get off more than a shot or two.
Dare leapt into the air, transferring his stone knife to grip in his teeth as he caught a branch and swung up onto it. The panther snarled and began swarming up the trunk of the tree as quick as a squirrel, but he had time to check it with his Eye.
Its health was still almost at full, but he noticed it had two status effects: Critical Bleed and Snare (25%). He also noticed that Pounce no longer showed up on its list of attacks.
Because it was on cooldown, or because taking out one of the panther's back legs disabled the ability?
Considering how the world's system responded to trying to exploit high places, Hamstring's snare effect probably only lasted for a short time. Still, it opened up a possibility and gave Dare an idea.
One that would cheese the fight to hell and back, but he was fighting for not just his life but the life of the wounded woman below.
The big cat reached the branch he was perched on and leapt for him, and Dare dropped down. But rather than falling to the ground below he once again caught the branch and swung up, just in time to slash at the hamstring on the panther's other rear leg with his Utility Knife, tearing a yowl of fury from the animal.
He was vaguely aware of gaining proficiency in Hamstring as he finally dropped to the ground below.
The panther dropped down a second later, limping heavily now with its speed reduced 50%. That allowed him to maneuver into position and dart in quick to hamstring one of the panther's front legs, then vault over the panther as it momentarily collapsed and go for its final leg.
The panther's status effect changed from Snared to Rooted, and the animal rolled awkwardly on the ground to face him, snarling, as he dove for his bow.
Dare came up with an arrow nocked, drew, and from practically point blank range shot it into the panther's neck. He kept unloading arrows into his target as quick as he could, stacking the Critical Bleed. The damage from the arrows was pitiful on a Level 12, but its health bar began ticking down slowly but surely from the Damage over Time effects.
The panther's first injured leg healed and it immediately began dragging itself towards Dare at 25% speed; he'd been right that a crippling injury in the real world would just be a minor inconvenience here.
He fired another arrow before jumping in to slash the leg again, reapplying the Root effect. Then he hung around and kept slashing at the big cat with both knives instead of going back to shooting his bow, waiting for the other legs to heal so he could Hamstring them again.
It went just fine with the other back leg, but Dare got punished when the first leg healed as his enemy immediately slashed at him with all its blinding speed.
He barely had time to start to leap back before claws raked across his ankle, tearing his pants and leaving lines of fire across his skin. No way to tell how bad the wound was, but he still had use of his leg, no bleed effect, and had only lost 4% of his hit points.
Dare growled and leapt in to Hamstring the front leg, then for good measure crippled the other one again as well before leaping backwards and switching to his bow, emptying his quiver into the panther's neck.
So far so good. The predator's hit points were down to around 50%, and he seemed to have a working strategy for taking it down. A dangerous one, as he'd just seen, but way better than trying to go head to head against it with his knives.
He was just starting to become optimistic when he saw that the back leg he'd first injured was already moving again.
Diminishing returns, a common mechanic for snare, root, and crowd control effects.
Damnit. That meant he'd only be able to keep the panther rooted in place for so long before it basically became immune to both Snare and Root from Hamstring.
Dare checked the Critical Bleed, relieved to see that it, at least, didn't seem to be suffering from diminishing returns; all the stacks that should've been there were there, while the ones that had completed their duration had dropped off. He checked their damage per second, then the panther's remaining health, and did a few quick calculations.
Time to change strategies.
He began running away sideways, so he could continue drawing and loosing arrows at the panther while still managing a decent speed and being able to see where he was going. He soon got to the point that he couldn't accurately hit its neck and switched to its body, back to plinking away at the Pink's health.
The big cat's second leg healed and its pursuit speed increased. Then its third leg healed. And since Dare had crippled both front legs before backing off it should be healing soon too, which would unlock Pounce.
He turned and ran.
A glance back saved his life as he saw the panther blurring towards him again. He dove to one side, caught himself on a tree trunk, and leapt up to another branch. The predator could get up to him terrifyingly fast, but it bought him a bit more time than running and dodging on the ground, and he could see the animal coming easier since it had to either leap up to the branch or use a tree trunk.
He began hopping from branch to branch, all the while keeping an eye, or an Eye, on his enemy's hit points. He watched as they ticked down towards 0, the bleed rate slowing down as the DoTs gradually fell off.
Dare knew he'd put enough Critical Bleed stacks on to kill the panther and then some, but as its hit point loss slowed to a crawl below the 50 mark he began to fear that he'd miscalculated. And as it was he was barely staying ahead of the big cat; one mistake and he'd be toast.
Or if its Pounce cooldown finished.
Those final few ticks of the DoTs seemed to take forever, and he had to resist the temptation to try to find time to shoot a final arrow. Instead he kept running until he heard the panther give a final plaintive yowl behind him, and the crash as it fell off a branch and slammed into the ground below.
Dare sagged against a tree trunk, panting, as he checked with his Eye to confirm his enemy was dead. Its hit points showed 0, status (DEAD), and with a gasp of relief he turned and ran back towards the clearing where he'd left the injured woman.
He would've loved to see what sort of cool loot a Level 12 panther dropped, but he'd have to come back and hope the body was still there once he knew she'd be okay.
When Dare reached the clearing he saw that the green woman had dragged herself over to a tree to lean against it, breathing labored and eyes clouded with pain.
Now that he had a better look at the little creature he concluded she must be a goblin. She was tiny, probably no more than up to his belly button standing, a few inches shy of being 4 feet tall. That was what he'd expect for a goblin, but while most goblins in art were depicted as painfully scrawny and hideous, this woman was anything but.
For one thing, while it was obvious she was malnourished she had the sort of curvy body any college coed would envy. Proportionally perfect for her short height. Aside from her breasts, that is, which strained against the tattered cloth wrap covering them, large and firm and absolutely gorgeous.
She had jet black hair falling to her shoulders in a matted tangle, and her pale green skin made him think of the inside of an avocado. Also she had short pointy ears.
Actually, her face was pointy everything. A short, slender nose that ended in a surprisingly sharp tip, a pointed chin, and a slightly wide mouth that revealed sharklike teeth bared in pain or fear. Even her cheekbones were prominent to the point of having points of their own.
In fact, it seemed the only thing soft about her face were her huge, pale yellow eyes, wide and vulnerable and unexpectedly lovely as they stared at him.
Which wasn't to say that her sharp features were ugly, simply unfamiliar. Originally they'd been a bit strange, maybe, but the longer he looked the more he could see an exotic beauty there.
She was shivering, although probably not with cold on this sunny day, even though her only clothes were the cloth wrapped around her large breasts and a ragged loincloth. It was obvious that she was terrified and suffering, and his heart went out to her.
Dare only had a moment to take in her appearance, since his attention was quickly drawn to the deep, nasty scratches on her bare thigh and back. As well as an ugly wound on her shoulder from where the panther had held and savaged her.
They looked really bad. As in, potentially life-threatening bad. He quickly pulled up his Eye to inspect her.
“Goblin, adult female. Humanoid, intelligent. Class: Level 7 Healer. Attacks: Bite. Dagger (unleveled, unarmed).”
Her hit points were listed as at about 60%, steadily dropping as her wounds bled. Unlike with monsters and animals, it looked as if serious bleed effects for intelligent creatures didn't have a short duration; unless treated or you got lucky, you could bleed to death.
Just like back on Earth.
Dare looked around helplessly. He didn't have any medicine or potions, assuming those existed on this world, and he knew no healing spells. But he had to do something. At the very least he could wash the wounds with clean water from his water skin. And since she lived in this world, maybe she'd have some idea of how to care for herself.
Didn't some primitive tribes from his world use mud or something like that? It seemed like a terrible idea that would just contaminate the wound; probably better to just tear strips off of leather from one of the pieces in his pack and bind the wounds.
He stepped forward, and the goblin's bared teeth became distinctly warning. She tried to scuttle away on her hands and feet, but whimpered in pain as her wounds dropped her back to the ground.
“Easy,” he said gently, holding out a hand in what he hoped was a universal gesture. “I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help.”
“Help?” the tiny woman said in a piping, timid voice, the word heavily accented. She relaxed slightly.
“That's right, help.” He pulled out his water skin and offered it to her. “Here, water.”
The goblin's sharp ears quivered. “Watuur.”
Dare nodded, smiling. “Here.” He poured some out onto his hand to show it was clean, then held it out to her.
She took it and briefly inspected it, then dropped it weakly and looked up at him, yellow eyes pleading. “Watuur.” She made a feeble gesture that could've been a fish swimming.
“You need running water?” he asked. “A stream?”
“Watuur,” the goblin said weakly, eyelids drooping.
“Let me take you to water.” He stepped forward again, and to his relief this time she showed no reaction. He gently reached down. “I'm going to pick you up.”
She didn't struggle as he carefully lifted her into his arms, mindful of her wounds. She was as light as he'd expected given her size, no burden at all to Dare's new body.
To his surprise her skin, covered in blood and filthy from being dragged across the ground by the black cat, was nevertheless smooth and as soft as he'd ever felt. It had a slightly oily feel, as if she'd just applied lotion, but it wasn't unpleasant.
It was only when he was holding her that he noticed her loincloth was damp, as were her legs, and the sharp scent of urine reached his nostrils; she must've soiled herself in her terror during the attack. Beneath the smell was another, musty and not quite pleasant, and he realized her loincloth and chest wrap were unwashed and filthy.
As was she, most likely. Still, she didn't smell as bad as he expected. In fact, as he draped her arm around his neck he caught a whiff of her armpit, hairless as if she either shaved or was naturally hairless there.
The scent was distinctly feminine, with a strong musk.
So this was a goblin. A real member of another race, in his arms. And dependent on him for help.
Dare quickly set aside his curiosity and offhand observations and rushed back through the trees to his campsite, the closest source of water he knew of, using every bit of speed he could muster with Fleetfoot and his Hunter abilities.
He carefully carried the tiny goblin over to the stream. Once there she motioned for him to set her down in the water. That seemed like a bad idea considering her open wounds, but when he hesitated she squirmed so hard he was afraid he'd drop her. He quickly stooped and gently set her so she was sitting in one of the shallower parts of the stream.
At that point he saw something amazing.
The tiny woman began to chant in a strange, chirping language that he assumed was Goblin. The water she sat in began to glow and flow around and over her, and then he watched in disbelief as the ugly wounds on her thigh, back, and shoulder began to fade. Within a minute they were nothing more than thin white scars on her pale green skin.
She sighed in exhausted relief and slumped back into the water, listlessly splashing it over her skin to wash away the blood. The tiny woman looked too exhausted to do anything but lay there, but after a moment she glanced at Dare, then with an groan of weary reluctance sat up.
He smiled uncertainly and waved. “Hello.” He pointed to himself. “Dare.”
She stared at him blankly for a few moments until he repeated the gesture and his name, then she hesitantly pointed at her own chest. “Zuri,” she said in her piping voice.
“Zuri.” Dare smiled more warmly and motioned to the fire. “Are you hungry, Zuri?” He pantomimed putting food in his mouth. “Food?”
She nodded eagerly, so he stood and offered her his arms to carry her back to the fire if she was too weak to stand.
The tiny goblin held up her hands in a clear “wait” gesture, then got back to chanting in her language as the water around her started glowing again. But while before it had been a sort of whitish green, now it was a bluish purple. The goblin flopped around in the water, which confused him until he realized that she was trying to submerge every part of herself.
Then the glow faded. Panting wearily, Zuri pushed to her feet and hobbled over to the fire. Dare rushed to offer her a hand, which she stared at in confusion for a moment until he took her elbow and helped her over to sit on a log.
